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Born: November 30, 1895 - Eferding, Upper Austria
Died: December 22, 1977 - Stuttgart, Germany |
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Johann Nepomuk David was an outstanding Austrian composer and teacher, father of Thomas Christian David. He studied with Joseph Marx at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1921 to 1922.
After serving as a schoolteacher, organist, and choirmaster in Wels from 1924 to 1934), Johann Nepomuk David joined the faculty of the Leipzig Landeskonservatorium (later the Hochschule für Musik) in 1934, becoming its director in 1942. He was subsequently director at the Salzburg Mozarteum from 1945 to 1948). In 1948 he was appointed professor of composition at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, serving until 1963. In 1978 the International Johann Nepomuk David Society was organized in Stuttgart.
Johann Nepomuk David was wrote a number of orchestral works including eight symphonies (of which the fifth has been recorded, as have some other works including a disc of organ music), several concerti including an organ concerto and two violin concertos, instrumental works including many for or with organ, and many choral works. His general style changed from the modal tendencies seen in his first two symphonies to the more acerbic though still tonal sound of the later ones. His mastery of counterpoint is revealed in all of his works, which are polyphonic in structure. |
